Hotpot
by Aiko Isari
Summary: [02] In which Daisuke broods, Takeru teases, Hikari and Ken cook, Miyako is fretting over a kotatsu, and poor Iori is just exhausted by it all. Or, what happens when the younger Chosen Children are left without supervision one cold winter day. Chaos at its finest.


"Are you really gonna sit in here all day?"

"Shut up, _you_."

Takeru hadn't heard that sneering way of reference in a while. He had been getting worried Daisuke was starting to _like_ him, heaven forbid. As a friend, of course. There was still Hikari-chan politely standing between them being practically brothers, like his brother was with Taichi. Not that she really was trying to be in their way. They were both just hot-headed when it came to her safety.

Among other things.

But that wasn't important right now. What _was_ important was getting Daisuke out of the cold bedroom before he went numb because the heater was off. Besides, it was _his_ bedroom in the first place.

"That doesn't answer my question, Daisuke-kun," he said in a pleasant voice, rather wishing he had Patamon to fiddle with so he didn't do the thing Yamato always _wanted_ him to do, which was punch Daisuke and drag him to see sense. Considering it almost never worked on Taichi, why would he try it on his admirer? Besides, Patamon would have said something blunt and too close to home and that would help nobody.

Well... it had worked once. Twice? Whatever. Something like that.

"I don't wanna."

"Uh..." Takeru scratched his head. "Don't wanna... what?"

"Talk about it."

Takeru thought about this. "Should I get Ken-kun in here?"

"No!" The refusal was said a little too fast and it almost made Takeru laugh aloud. Maybe it wasn't Hikari who Daisuke kept looking at these days…. Not that he would admit that. "He took the cooking job from me with Hikari-chan… I'm not gonna tell him anything."

Takeru sighed on the inside. "In other words, you want to talk to Hikari-chan."

"No."

"Then tell me." Takeru didn't like being blunt with Daisuke, mostly because being friendly was usually enough. He honestly wanted to leave him be. But then, that would just make things difficult for the party, and they all needed time to recuperate, even the Digimon. They had all gone to the Digital World for a few hours before the party, to avoid anyone eating the food. "V-mon's not here, you can't talk to him."

Daisuke didn't respond to that. Bulls' eye.

Takeru sat down beside him. "Everyone's worried, you know."

"I'll be fine." The stubborn lift to his jaw told Takeru otherwise but he humored him there.

"Sure you will." He sat down on the bed anyway, much as Daisuke's glares told him not to. "I'm not going to ask. I'm just going to make sure you eat when Hikari-chan and Ken-kun finish."

Daisuke made a noise of dissent.

If he wasn't a little worried, Takeru would have laughed.

* * *

"It's not working, it's not working, it's going to-"

"Miyako-san."

"I'm supposed to be _good_ at this technology thing, I'm supposed to have got this down pat and-"

Iori sat back and tried not to sigh. Miyako was his good friend. She sometimes went into panics like this, but even so... He was still tempted to wrench the _kotatsu_ controls away from her and look it over himself. It shouldn't be that difficult. She was probably overthinking it. It wouldn't be the first time. She kind of liked to do it; it was a way to keep things in order. When there was a small problem, panic a lot? When there was a big problem, freak out internally and eventually figure it out. That was Miyako, and a lot of the time, Iori liked this about her.

Right now, unfortunately, it wasn't helping anyone, her least of all.

"Miyako-san," he said again. This was getting a little ridiculous. He looked outside at the whirling snowflakes and the foggy windows. "Do you want me to take a look?"

"No, no," Miyako assured, snapping back to the cool big sibling mode she probably picked up from her siblings and just didn't want to admit it. "I've got it, Iori, just a bit confused. Seriously, I'm fine!"

Iori bit his tongue. He sincerely hoped that this wasn't because he was the youngest or something. Knowing his friend and neighbor, it wasn't intentional if it was. She had always respected him no matter what.

He sighed as softly as possible. "I'm going to help Ichijouji-san and Hikari-san in the kitchen."

"Okay!" He was surprised she heard him; she was so engrossed in the kotatsu.

Hikari smiled at him when he entered the room. "Iori-kun! Are you good with onions?"

Iori nodded, smiling wearily. She handed the board to him and he went to get a small stool. Curse puberty for taking so long. Ken gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Nii-san had to lift me up," he informed him.

Hikari giggled over the broth and Iori's smile widened a little. "You couldn't have been that small and allowed to help."

"Nii-san couldn't cook," Ken said with the gravity of a teacher. "So he held me and I did it… at least for a while." He paused, thinking gently over cubing meat squares. "is Miyako-san okay out there?"

"No." Iori sighed. "I think she's just not waiting long enough."

Hikari giggled and shook her head. "If Hawkmon was here, he'd probably help her. It's too bad the Digimon went to Primary Village today, though it's probably warmer there than it is here!" She grimaced. "I'm surprised it snowed."

"it should melt soon," Iori mused. "Mom was complaining about the laundry."

"I don't blame her." Hikari took his chopped onions and passed him the tomatoes. He tried not to grimace. He still didn't like tomatoes. "I was supposed to do laundry today too. It didn't work out."

Iori relaxed further, letting the chatter wash over him. Neither Ken nor Hikari were particularly loud or talked as much as Miyako-san and her family but… they had a sense of comfort.

After a few minutes of peaceful silence, Ken put the knife down and asked, "Has Daisuke left Takeru-san's bedroom yet?"

Iori leaned back to look in the other room. Miyako was letting out a sigh of contentment as she laid against the apparently now working kotatsu. "No, it doesn't look like it."

Hikari sighed, brow furrowing. "He's been like this for a few days now… I've tried to ask him what's wrong, but he doesn't seem to want to talk to me about it."

"He's fond of you being happy, Hikari-san," Iori said with a thoughtful headshake. He checked the pot. "He won't tell you anything. Or Ichijouji-san."

Ken snorted. "Hypocrite." Iori and Hikari looked at each other, sharing a laugh. He flushed behind his ears. "What is it?"

"It's funny to hear you say that." Hikari took his knife and cutting board, handing them to Iori. "Maybe you ought to go relieve Takeru-kun. I need him to check the flavor on this, since he doesn't get along with spicy food."

"Not since Yamato-san cooked it for him anyway," Iori added with a tiny smile.

Ken chortled, going to wash his hands. "That sounds like a good idea. I'm sorry, Hikari-san."

Hikari shook her head. "No, no, he should be out here with the rest of us, complaining about how slow we are and asking where the noodles are."

Ken and Iori both laughed and Ken slipped off the apron to hang on a nearby hook. "Please excuse me then." He waved at Miyako as he passed, who was busy cooing with delight at the warmth seeping into her toes. She waved back.

"Good luck."

"With what?" he said to himself as he knocked on the door. Behind him, he could hear Hikari ask Iori something that sounded like 'how was your date yesterday?' and chuckled.

Hen.

* * *

Takeru looked away from the frosted window at the sound of the knock. "I guess that's my cue," he said.

Daisuke scowled. "I told you, I'm fine."

"I know," Takeru said with a pleasant grin. "Still, I'm going to worry about you. We are friends."

Daisuke watched him stand, squirming a bit. "… Thanks," he said. "Sorry, I just-" Man, this was awkward.

"Don't want to talk about it," Takeru finished. "At least not to me. It's all right." He smiled. "We're all worried about you Daisuke-kun, not just ichijouji-kun."

Daisuke's ears darkened. "This doesn't have anything to do with him." It really didn't, but he didn't want Ken to notice because while Ken didn't exactly _fret_ , he did get a case of the hover in near panic disease his mom got and that was weird from Ken. Who… didn't have a label in his head anymore. Well, that was new.

"Right, right, I'll let him in then." He said something to Ken, which Daisuke couldn't catch, before Ken entered the room.

Daisuke grimaced. "Hey..."

"Hey." Ken flashed him a smile. "A lot on your mind?"

Daisuke avoided looking at the snow and cold outside. "Yeah..." Chibimon would know, but he had to go home. Chibimon would have made him go outside and hang with the others, make himself less occupied on sheer willpower. But the others let him be, even Takeru hadn't pressed him too hard. He almost wished the other had.

Instead, Ken was here, looking him up and down. He hadn't wanted Ken to come in here. The guy had bad circulation and it was still chilly in here because why use heat and a kotatsu? That was too high of an electric bill. Even when Daisuke blinked, Ken was still looking at him. He sighed. God the least he could do was humor him and talk.

It's the snow. That was really all it was. Thinking of the snow and the endless winter, thinking of her rampaging and crying because she was all alone, wondering if she still was. Wondering what he could have done. This wasn't his style. He guessed he could understand how Ken felt now.

"Over the summer, I met a girl," he started.

Ken raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't flood her with information about Hikari-san."

Daisuke snorted. "Thanks, Ken. Know how to treat a guy." He waited for Ken to smile. "It was while I was in America, you know. My big month of 'this is just not fair'."

Ken nodded and Daisuke grinned a bit. He was warming up a little now. It felt good to start there, good to talk about it.

"So I met this girl but before that, I heard a voice and it was really nice. It was like Hikari-chan's but somehow, it was…" He paused to think about it. "Sadder, you know? Hikari-chan usually doesn't sound that far down." Ken watched him silently and Daisuke continued on. "When I looked around for it, I met with Mimi-chan and a friend of ours, Wallace. And then, it was really cold, like this. It was snowing, snow everywhere, when it had been sweltering before."

He looked out the window. A creeping sense of dread dropped into Ken's stomach.

"There was damage on nearby trees and fence areas," Daisuke continued. "Looking back, she wasn't exactly a nice girl. But she was sweet and meant what she said. She was really scared a lot of the time. She clung to us, to whoever she felt like, whoever she thought would give her what she wanted. She was a Digimon."

Daisuke paused, trying to put the enormity of what he was saying, or what he felt he was saying, to words. "She was a partner to somebody… but we couldn't find them. She couldn't find them. It and something else maybe, we didn't know, it had driven her crazy. She was scared, Ken. She lashed out and was really scared. She asked me to become her partner. I couldn't, you know? I had Chibimon, there was no way I could do it. She died… I gave her a name and she died hearing me shout it and..." He cut himself off. He couldn't say he had wanted to become Nat-chan's partner, wanted to doom his best friend, his Chibimon, to that, to endless craziness. He couldn't really say he had, well-

"Feels like you killed her."

Ken's soft voice still cut like a knife, damn he was good at that."

"… Yeah." Daisuke looked down. "She was going to kill us. I had to stop her, so I called out and..."

Ken nodded, looking thoughtful. He went over and patted Daisuke's spikes. Daisuke jerked away and Ken raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have accepted a hug."

"I happen to like hugs and friendship," Daisuke muttered, a smile worming its way onto his face.

"Then why are you in here by yourself?"

Damn it. "You got me. I dunno." Daisuke let out a sigh. "I just figured I could get it out of my head before the food was done and I mean, I left her egg with Mimi-chan and Wallace and they said they were looking into it last time I asked but… feels like I screwed up."

"Welcome to my life." Ken's voice was dry and Daisuke looked up at him, this time actually pouting.

"Come on, I didn't mean it like that. There was something I could actually do and-"

"And you didn't do it because you're a sane individual with sense, I hope." Takeru's voice said through the door. Daisuke jumped.

"Takeru, you bastard! I thought you left!"

"It's my mom's apartment; I can stand by my bedroom door if I want to," he countered. "We're opening the door and dragging you out. Food's ready."

Daisuke scowled, though this was playful. "Fine! Be that way!"

"Not changing for you, Daisuke-kun."

Daisuke huffed and Ken laughed. "You two are great friends."

"We all are." Daisuke's chest felt lighter now, easier to breathe with. He paused, then hugged Ken. "Thanks."

"I didn't actually say anything remotely reassurring," Ken deadpanned, pretending the hug had actually not been a big deal.

Daisuke shrugged. "You convinced me to say something."

"Can I convince you to eat something? Because the food won't be hot forever."

Daisuke felt his stomach grumble. "I don't think you have to convince me of that."

"Good." Ken dragged him towards the door. "Let's go."

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Oh god, it's done. This has been sitting in my computer for a while. But now it is done and I am going back to Reprocess. Typing and editing 10k is a lot of work. Halp. Actually, no don't I got this. XD Anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think.

Challenges: For Daiken Love, as her reward for the DFC Challenge Birthday-a-thon, for the General Prompt Challenge, prompt 'stew' Advent Calendar Challenge day 15, and Diversity Writing Challenge E4. Write a oneshot with at least two dividers. Hopefully I did this one right.

kotatsu - a low, wooden table frame covered by a _futon_ , or heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits. Underneath is a heat source, often built into the table itself. in other words, great for winter. Thanks for reading!


End file.
